Safety razor and blade



Mwch m W36. A. RAGAN, m maasw SAFETY RAZOR AND BLADE Filed Jan. 15, 1931 IN V EN TOR.

Patented Mar. 10, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

, This invention relates to safety razors and blades therefor and has particular relation to that type which has two cutting edges, either of which may be used without making a change in adjustment of the parts.

" In the usual type of safety razor and blade, the blade is so distorted when in place as to have .the plane of the blade adjacent one edge make an angle to the plane of the blade adjacent the other edge. This distortion while necessary to place the parts in their proper relation and the cutting edges in the proper place, causes severe internal stresses in the blade, often resulting in .the breakage of the blade along the longitudinal axis. This breakage starts at points where the blade has been necessarily weakened by the openings for registration with the projections or studs which cause the blade and its holder to be held in proper relation. This breakage of blades exposes the user to the liability of being severely out .should a portion of the blade separate and extend beyond the safety point. 1

In addition to the stresses set up at the longitudinal axis, the internal stresses in the ordinary type of blade extend to the. edge itself and distort the particles of the blade-edge in a manner to adversely affect its cutting qualities.

This liability of breakage along the longitudinal axis makes it necessary in the ordinary type of blade, to limit the angle to which the blade is bent, to an angle which will always be safe.

The primary object of this invention is the provision of an improved safety razor.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved safety razor having a blade with an improved shape to prevent breakage due .to the flexing when the razor is assembled.

Another and still further object of the invention is the provision of an improved blade for a safety razor having two relatively stiff blade portions each having an outer cutting edge and being joined together at their inner edges by a plurality of integral strips of substantially the same width and being longer than their width.

Another and still further object of the invention is the provision of an improved holder for holding the blade in place with the solid portions in planes without distortion while the strip portion is bent in a gradual curve.

Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the complete specification and claims.

Referring to the drawing where I have illustrated my inventio'n,

Figure 1 is a side view of the parts of the in- 10 Figure 8 is a cross section of the guide member with a slight modification.

Like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the specification and drawing. 7

Referring to Figures 1 to 5, inclusive, l0 designates the member of the razor holder which contacts with the face of the user during use. The numeral H designates the guide member and I2,

the handle which also serves to hold the parts 20 in close relation to each other. The blade I have designated I3. This blade 13, has its side po'rtions connected together with narrow strips of metal H separated by openings l3 and in the center by the opening l3.

The face-contacting member ID, is provided with two substantially plane surfaces ill which cooperate with and are correspondingly placed relative to the faces H of the guide member II.

A projection Ill of rectangular cross section extends into a corresponding recess ll of the guide member H. A threaded stud l0 extends from the main body of the face contacting member Ill, passes through the opening I3 in the blade l3, through the opening H in the guide member I l and is received in the threaded opening I2 of the handle l2. In this form, the member II, is provided with a flat surface l I. As

illustrated in Figure 7, the blade does not contact with the member II, the thin strips l3, taking their natural curve from the line where the blade is gripped by the surfaces l0 and Il on one side, to the line where the blade is gripped by the surfaces It! and H on the opposite side.

-The strips l3 are preferably made of uniform width and thickness and of a length to extend at its ends to beyond the sides of the surface li In the form of guide member Ill shown in Figure 8, the surface H is replaced by the curved surface Ill and of a shape found to be the natural curve taken by the strips [3.

If desired, as shown in Figure 6, the blade 3 may be provided with the strips H3, separated by the spaces H3 and a space I I3 shaped to fit the stud I0.

The projections lll are however suflicient, coacting with the cut away portions l3 or Hi! to retain the cutting edges of the blade in proper relation to the guide projections N to insure that the skin of the user is properly guided to the cutting edge of the blade.

This method of weakening the blade and securing the same without distortion of that part of the blade adjacent the cutting edge, insures a blade edge in proper cutting condition and does away with any chance of breakage due to the bending operation. These thin narrow strips are made substantially uniform in cross section and have no more tendency to bend at one place than another.

With this construction of blade, it is possible to construct the surfaces Ill and l I at any relative angle which may be found to be desirable.

While I have illustrated in detail an embodiment of my invention, I desire to have it understood that I do not limit myself to the exact showing and that modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. A safety razor comprising a holder and a blade, the holder having separate face-contacting and guide members, each member having two substantially plane surfaces coacting with corresponding surfaces of the other, the blade having its outer portions held between these substantially plane surfaces and having a series of narrow integral strips of metal, each of uniform width, extending across the longitudinal axis and connecting the opposite outer portions and means for holding the blade and holder members in close relation.

2. A safety razor comprising a holder and a blade, the holder having separate face-contacting and guide members, each member having two substantially plane surfaces coacting with corresponding surfaces of the other, the blade having its outer portions held between these substantially plane surfaces and having a series of narrow integral strips of metal, each of uniform width extending across the longitudinal axis to the portions engaged by the substantially plane surfaces and a screw means for holding the blade and holder members in close relation.

3. A safety razor comprising a holder and a two-edged blade, the holder having a faceengaging member and a guide member, the guide member having two substantially plane surfaces forming an angle to each other greater than a right angle and less than a straight angle, the surfaces having their adjacent edges spaced from each other, the face-em gaging member having surfaces corresponding to and cooperating with the surfaces of the guide member, the blade having cut away portions along the center to form narrow strips each of uniform width connecting the cutting-edge portions and means for retaining the blade and the holder members in proper position relative to each other and means for holding the blade and holder members in close relation.

4. A safety razor comprising a holder and a two-edged blade, the holder having a face-engaging member and a guide member, the guide member having two substantially plane surfaces forming an angle to each other greater than a right angle and less than a straight angle, the surfaces having their adjacent edges spaced from each other, the face-engaging member having surfaces corresponding to and cooperating with the surfaces of the guide member, the blade having cut away portions along the center to form narrow strips connecting the cutting-edge portions and means adjacent the outer ends of the blade for retaining the edges of the blade and the holder members in proper position relative to each other and means for holding the blade and holder members in close relation.

5. A safety razor comprising a holder and a blade, the holder having separate face-contacting and guide members, each member having two substantially plane surfaces coacting with cor-' responding surfaces of the other, the blade having its outer portions held between these substantially plane surfaces and having a series of narrow integral strips of metal extending across the longitudinal axis and connecting the opposite outer portions, the blade having cut away portions at its outer ends and the holder having projections extending into the cut away portions to retain the edges of the blade and the holder members in proper position relative to each other and means for holding the blade and holder members in close relation.

6. A safety razor blade having two oppositely disposed edges, a series of perforations along the longitudinal axis, the metal remaining forming an extended series of narrow strips of substantially uniform width between the opposite portions of the blade adjacent the edges the strips being of greater dimension across the blade than in a longitudinal direction.

7. A safety razor blade having two oppositely disposed edges, a series of perforations along the longitudinal axis, the metal remaining forming an extended series of narrow strips of substantially uniform width between the opposite portions of the blade adjacent the edges, the strips being of greater dimension across the blade than in a longitudinal direction, the strips being connected to the opposite portions by fillets, thereby avoiding sharp angles.

ALEXANDER RAGAN, JR. 

